


Bargains Cruelly Made

by Scytale



Category: Heer Halewijn (Traditional Ballad)
Genre: Character Death, Consent Issues, Decapitated Head Kissing, F/M, Fairy Bargains, Love Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-01 11:03:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18799057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scytale/pseuds/Scytale
Summary: "Kiss me, Princess Magtelt, and I will tell you how to kill a firebird.“





	Bargains Cruelly Made

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nelja-in-English (Nelja)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nelja/gifts).



People came from all over the kingdom to look at the head, confirming for themselves that the evil that plagued the kingdom was slain.

No longer would girls walk willingly to their deaths in the night. The kingdom was safe at last, and the monster was defeated. The king’s feast hall ringed with merriment.

On its golden plate, the head of Heer Halewijn obliged the people their gawking. He smiled, and when they spoke to him or looked at him too long with horror, he answered them with polite, mocking gibes.

When the music died down, he spoke to the crowd. “Thank you for inviting me to your feast,” he said. “After all, it has been some time since I’ve dined in the court.

“I have prepared,” Heer Halewijn’s head said,” a song in honor of my own death.”

His deep, rich voice carried well across the hall.

The court had quieted.

They had spent decades afraid of his song, hiding behind thick walls, blocking their daughters’ ears with wax, and forbidding their daughters to wander into the deep, dark woods. They had spent decades watching all of their efforts to save the girls fail, because the song always found a way into the ears of the girls Heer Halewijn chose, and the girls always found a way to Heer Halewijn.

Heer Halewijn’s head began to sing. His voice was high and clear, as beautiful as a harper’s. But it was only a voice, and the court realized this and began to laugh nervously.

Heer Halewijn was dead and defeated; he had no power over them, and the people saw that they had nothing to be afraid of.

At least, until they heard what he sang.

* * *

Magtelt stormed into the room. “I should have tossed you into the fire,” she said.

The head — all that was left of her enemy now — smiled at her. “You didn’t like my song? I thought it was entertaining. And not one word I sang was untrue.”

No, he’d just used the truth as a weapon to tear down her people. He had spoken of sons who racked up gambling debts in secret, stepmothers secretly glad their daughters had vanished into the woods, and friends who secretly despised each other. All the while, his eyes had laughed.

“How dare you,” she said. “How dare you accuse my people, as if you’re some kind of saint —”

Heer Halewijn laughed. “That is the least of what I dare, Princess. Besides, holding them in contempt makes killing them feel more satisfying.”

Magtelt’s mind flashed back to the gallowfield. The girls had hung from the trees, flies clinging to their bloated faces, and Heer Halewijn had knelt beside her horse and cupped his hands to help her dismount.

“You’re a monster,” she said.

“See? Isn’t it more satisfying?” The head gave her a radiant, mocking smile.

Her breath caught. She imagined grabbing the head and flinging it against the wall. Then, she turned on her heel and marched out of the room, locking the door behind her.

* * *

Spring turned to summer. Magtelt threw herself into riding, dancing, and learning how to use a sword.

She did not go back to visit the head. Sometimes, she dreamed of Heer Halewijn, of the way he had looked at her in the gallowfield and told her she was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, but she told herself they were only dreams. He was dead and bound, and he could not touch her. It was normal to have nightmares, she told herself — even if her dreams weren’t precisely nightmares.

At midsummer, an emissary came from the edge of the kingdom. He was haggard and dirt-stained from his time on the road, and his clothes and shoes looked worn.

“A firebird is burning the villages in the mountains,” the emissary said, on his knees. “The governor sent soldiers, but it entranced them all and killed them all.” His eyes flicked up to the throne and then to the side, to where Magtelt sat. “Please, Your Majesty, send Princess Magtelt to kill the firebird for us. We all know how she defeated Heer Halewijn’s magic...”

Magtelt’s father scowled. “Of course not! My daughter is no monster hunter.”

“Father,” she said. Her father looked over at her with sharp surprise. She looked back at the emissary. “Tell me more about the firebird.”

* * *

She came in upon Heer Halewijn’s head humming an old lullaby. When he saw her, he stopped.

“I need to know how to kill a firebird,” Magtelt said.

He smiled. “Why?”

“There’s one burning the mountain villages,” she said. “It mesmerizes the soldiers that try to kill it.”

“Hmm,” Heer Halewijn said. “We might be able to reach an agreement.”

She scoffed. “I won’t rub salve upon your neck.”

“Of course not. But you might make my imprisonment more bearable,” he said. “Kiss me, Princess Magtelt, and I’ll tell you how to kill a firebird.”

Magtelt thought about the villages burning in the fire.

“I’ll kiss you after the firebird is dead,” she said.

“A bad bargain for me,” he said. “If you die, I get nothing.”

“If your advice is good, I won’t die.”

Their eyes met.

Heer Halewijn laughed. “My advice is good,” he said, and he told her of the firebird, which had been born at the dawn of the world, and the song it cherished more than its life.

* * *

Magtelt rode to the mountains with a company of men and a minstrel. A month later, she returned, smelling of smoke and ashes. Behind her, a wagon carried the giant head of the firebird.

In the night, after the celebrations were done, she crept down the hall to Heer Halewijn.

“You’ve returned,” Heer Halewijn’s head said.

“My harper played the song you taught me, and the firebird fell asleep. But a string broke on his harp, and the firebird woke. It opened its wings, which were so beautiful... Those wings dazzled the men and they stood there staring, waiting to die. But I stabbed the firebird in the chest.” She lifted the head from the platter, her fingers upon his cheek. “I couldn't understand at first why I was the only one to resist it. Can you guess why, Heer Halewijn?”

He was silent.

“Its wings couldn't dazzle me, because I'm already dazzled. Its fire couldn't burn me, because I'm already burning.”

She brought her lips close to his ear and breathed, “Heer Halewijn, I'm still in love with you.”

She held the head in front of her.

His throat moved as he swallowed; when he spoke, his voice was low and hoarse. “You still owe me a kiss, Princess.”

She kissed him then, a long, slow kiss that sent heat into her stomach. Parting his lips slightly, he let her take the lead and explore his mouth.

She separated them and set the head back down on the platter.

“Princess,” he said.

She took a breath. “I’ve fulfilled our bargain,” Magtelt said.

She left, locking the great door behind her.

* * *

She didn’t come back for the rest of the summer.

When the fields turned gold, she stepped back into the chamber, clad in her armor with her sword at her side. Heer Halewijn’s eyes flicked to her; the look he wore was the same one he’d worn when she’d first met him, intent and amused.

“What brings you here, Princess?” Heer Halewijn asked.

“There’s a sea serpent raiding the ships and the fishing towns,” she said. “But its scales can’t be pierced by any weapon.”

He smiled. “For a kiss, I’ll tell you how to kill it.”

“I’ll kiss you after it’s dead,” she said. “Not before.”

“Very well,” he said, and he told her of the poisonous herbs, found deep in the woods, that would kill any serpent that ate them.

When she returned, she came to him, studying him.

“I’ve spent the last few months talking to magicians and bards around the kingdom. I’ve learned some things about enchantment.” she said. “Your song cuts both ways, doesn’t it? As long as I love you, you love me back.”

She traced the tip of her finger along the curve of his lips; he sighed slightly, and his eyes watched her hungrily. It was answer enough.

“Did you love all the girls you sang to?” she asked.

“Always,” Heer Halewijn said. “But I’ve always had a knack for being cruel to what I love.” The corners of his mouth turned up. “We seem to have that in common, Princess.”

This time, Magtelt’s kiss was hard and rough; she devoured him with her kiss, biting and sucking upon his lip. Her free hand fisted in his hair, tugging at his curls, and then she set him upon the plate and left.

 

* * *

In the winter, when the tops of the trees were capped with snow, Magtelt went to see Heer Halewijn again.

“I want to know about the Prince of Stones,” she said.

He looked at her, raising an eyebrow. “The Prince of Stones.” He pursed his lips. “Is that your newest fairy quarry, Princess?”

“There are towns in which the earth shook and the trees fell. The dead are piling.” she said. She had ridden through the towns herself, almost unable to believe her eyes. The towns had been ruins, the stones crumbled and broken; the bones had piled high, bleached white like marble. It had stunk of fairy magic. Her hand curled onto her sword. “Then, he sent a messenger to the court. He says he will turn the stones and trees against my kingdom.”

His lips turned up into a wide smile. “Kiss me, Princess, and I’ll tell you how to defeat him.”

Magtelt leaned closer.

She placed a finger upon his lips. “I told you that I've been learning from magicians and bards,” she said. “Do you think I don’t know what a third kiss given in fair exchange will do?”

“Kiss me,” he said. “Restore my body to me, give me my sword back, and I’ll banish the Prince of Stones for you.” He smiled at her. The tip of his tongue brushed against her finger. She closed her eyes and heard his voice lower, coaxing and husky. “I’ll do more than that for you, Magtelt, once he’s gone.”

Her mouth had gone dry. Magtelt drew her hand away. “I didn’t tell you his entire message. He tells me that the kingdom will be spared if I bring him the head of Heer Halewijn. What did you do to him, Heer Halewijn?”

“Kiss me and I’ll tell you."

She took the head into her arms. “He will tell me himself.”

* * *

Magtelt dismounted, her sword swinging at her side. Snow lay thick on the ground and atop the boughs of the trees, which seemed to whisper in some unknown tongue. Cold air bit at her cheeks.

The kingdom was safer now; fewer places were truly wild. But this, she thought, was one of them.

Her horse whickered, his ears flattening. Murmuring soothing words, she tied him to the tree. Then she opened the saddlebag and took out Heer Halewijn's head.

"Think about what you're doing," he said desperately.

“I’m getting rid of an evil that plagues my kingdom,” she said.

“He will do worse than kill me,” Heer Halewijn said. “The fay don’t forgive.”

She held him close and stepped out from the trees, onto Heer Halewijn's field. The girls had been taken to their rest; the gallows had been burned down in vengeance, its wrecks buried beneath the thick snow. She could have been looking at any other snowy field.

But the breath still tore from her; for a moment, she was back in the field, the ground stained with old blood. She had looked at the dead girls, and hatred and desire had mingled in her heart until she couldn't tell them apart.

"Please, Magtelt," Heer Halewijn whispered. His voice jolted her back to the present, to the empty field she stood in."Let me _help_ you.I know how to defeat him —  "

“Prince of Stones!" Magtelt called. "I've brought you what you want."

Wind and snow rose around her; the world went white. In the snow, she saw a figure take form. It looked vaguely man-shaped —  if a man was made of twisted, white wood, with two eyes of grey stone.

The wind died; the snow fell. There was silence, and the silence shaped itself into words.

I am here.

The Prince of Stones reached out a hand that looked like tree roots toward her. Sparks flickered in his stone eyes. Give me the thief, said the silence.

“Yes,” she said.

She stepped closer. The Prince bent down and took the head from her.

He gripped the head, his root-fingers stroking along Heer Halewijn's chin and cheek. Then, his fingers tightened on Heer Halewijn's face. Heer Halewijn opened his mouth in a scream, but no sound came out.

Magtelt drew her sword and struck. Her sword went through the Prince of Stones like a knife through butter, and the Prince of Stones disintegrated; wood shavings brushed against her face.

The two stones that had been the Prince’s eyes sat in the snow. The light had died from them; they looked like nothing more than two ordinary stones.

She put the sword away.

“You killed him,” Heer Halewijn said. He had fallen onto the ground; his voice was half-muffled by the snow.

She lifted the head up. “Not for you,” she said. “He killed my people. And there was always a chance he wouldn’t go away, or that he might return.”

“He would have,” Heer Halewijn said. “Those lands were his, long before they were yours or mine.” His eyes closed briefly. “I stole his voice a long time ago, and with it, the power in it. I killed, over and over, in a ritual to keep him from coming after me." His eyes flicked down to the stones, lying in the snow. "And now you’ve killed him.”

She watched him in silence.

“Will you kill me now, too?”

Heer Halewijn gave her a pleading look.The first glint of winter sunlight shone through the clouds, cold and hard; she could still see the girls swinging in the wind.

“Someday. But not yet.”

She placed the head in the saddlebags with the two stones, and then she rode back into the forest.

  


**Author's Note:**

> The three-kisses motif is taken from "Kemp Owyne".
> 
> Nelja, thank you for the lovely prompts, and I hope you enjoy this as much as I did writing it!
> 
> Also, thank you to S---- for the beta and the encouragement. <3 You know I wouldn't know what to do without you.


End file.
